“I determined then, and kept to it, that I would run the project as I had painted and played jazz, within the capacity of my earnings as a teacher, utterly independently…” Bomb Culture, 1968
When he appeared in The People Show’s Whistlestop in 1987, Nuttall became a member of Equity. Taking character parts in films and television series enabled him to earn sufficient to support his writing and painting, and gave him the time to do the work.
“Latterly as a… bit-part TV actor, including a perfectly cast Friar Tuck in Robin Hood, and in films such as The World Is Not Enough and Scandal, he married free creative expression with the basic need to earn a crust.” Neil Cooper in The Glasgow Herald, 2004
In discussion with Robert Bank, speaking of film and television work, he once said: “I’m a Method Actor. I learn my lines, I turn up on time, I do the work and I pick up the cheque. That’s my method”
“… he was a fine character actor… “ John Calder in The Independent, 2004
In the early 1990s he appeared twice in theatrical productions. At Liverpool Everyman he played the lead in a dramatisation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5, which ran for some five weeks; at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in May and June 1993, he was in Trevor Griffiths’ The Comedians with Peter Postlethwaite, directed by Jude Kelly. This play later transferred to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Repeating the same performance night after night did not suit his temperament; he was unhappy with both experiences.
The following is an incomplete list of his film and television performances.
Title
|
Film/TV
|
Year
|
Character
|
Fungus the Bogeyman
|
Television
|
2004
|
Patterson
|
Shipman
|
Television
|
2002
|
Mr. Justice Forbes
|
Holby City
|
Television
|
2002
|
Ken McMahon
|
Auf Wiedersehn, Pet
|
Television
|
2002
|
Lord Wharfdale
|
Octopus
|
Film
|
2000
|
Henry Campbell
|
In Defence
|
Television
|
2000
|
Geoff Wheelan
|
The World is Not Enough
|
Film
|
1999
|
Dr. Arkov
|
Plunkett & Macleane
|
Film
|
1999
|
Lord Morris
|
Inspector Morse
|
Television
|
1998
|
Mr. Justice Benham
|
Monk Dawson
|
Film
|
1998
|
Sir Hugh Stanten
|
Wycliffe
|
Television
|
1998
|
David Miller
|
Men Behaving Badly
|
Television
|
1997
|
Mr. Wadey
|
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
|
Television
|
1997
|
Bernie Pryde
|
"Chef!"
|
Television
|
1996
|
Gustav LaRoche
|
Beaumarchais, l'insolent
|
Film
|
1996
|
Benjamin Franklin
|
"She's Out"
|
Television
|
1995
|
Tommy Malin
|
Pie in the Sky
|
Television
|
1995
|
Jimmy Burgess
|
Paparazzo
|
Television
|
1995
|
Lionel
|
The Browning Version
|
Film
|
1994
|
Lord Baxter
|
Minder
|
Television
|
1994
|
Rossitor
|
The Baby of Macon
|
Film
|
1993
|
The Majordomo
|
Damage
|
Film
|
1992
|
Trevor Leigh Davies MP
|
Boon
|
Television
|
1992
|
Darts MC
|
The House of Eliott
|
Television
|
1991
|
Raymond Hamilton
|
Robin Hood
|
Film
|
1991
|
Friar Tuck
|
All Creatures Great and Small
|
Television
|
1990
|
Mr. Wilson
|
Bergerac
|
Television
|
1990
|
Doctor
|
Scandal
|
Film
|
1989
|
Percy Murray, Club Owner
|
|